This invention relates to communication systems and methods used with gaming machines such as video slot machines and video poker machines. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for providing open architecture communications systems that may incorporate the use of numerous vendor proprietary protocols.
Gaming machines, such as a slot machine or video poker machine, are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Many slot and gaming machines now employ processor driven systems that output information on CRT video display screens in place of more traditional mechanically-driven reel displays.
There are a wide variety of associated devices that can now be connected to a processor driven gaming machine. Some examples of these devices are player tracking units, lights, ticket printers, card readers, speakers, bill validators, ticket readers, coin acceptors, display panels, key pads, coin hoppers and button pads. Many of these devices are built into the gaming machine or components associated with the gaming machine such as a top box which usually sits on top of the gaming machine.
Typically, utilizing a master gaming controller, the gaming machine manages various combinations of devices that allow a player to play a game on the gaming machine and also encourage game play on the gaming machine. For example, a game played on a gaming machine usually requires a player to input money or indicia of credit into the gaming machine, indicate a wager amount, and initiate a game play. These steps require the gaming machine to manage input devices, including bill validators and coin acceptors, to accept money into the gaming machine and recognize user inputs from devices, including key pads and button pads, to determine the wager amount and initiate game play. After game play has been initiated, the gaming machine determines a game outcome, presents the game outcome to the player and may dispense an award of some type depending on the outcome of the game.
The operations described above may be carried out on a gaming machine when the gaming machine is operating as a “stand alone” unit or linked in a network of some type to a group of gaming machines. As technology in the gaming industry progresses, more and more gaming services are being provided to gaming machines via proprietary networks that link groups of gaming machines to a remote computer that provides one or more proprietary gaming services. As an example, gaming services that may be provided by a remote computer to a gaming machine via a proprietary network of some type include player tracking services, accounting services, electronic funds transfers to/from the machine, external wins/awards, ticket redemption, lottery services, progressive game services and bonus games.
Typically, network gaming services enhance the game playing capabilities of the gaming machine or provide some operational advantage in regards to maintaining the gaming machine. Thus, gaming services provided to groups of gaming machines linked over a proprietary network have become very desirable in the gaming industry.
A current barrier to increasing the number of network gaming services provided to groups of gaming machines is the complexity of the proprietary communication networks associated with providing those network gaming services. Within the gaming industry, the evolution of network gaming services has produced a gaming service network environment where each network gaming service is provided utilizing a separate proprietary communication protocol, and associated network hardware. As a hardware. As a result, the communication protocols and hardware used to provide one network gaming service by one manufacturer is typically incompatible with the communication protocol and hardware used to provide a second network gaming service provided by another manufacturer.
As a result, the current proprietary networked gaming arena uses many proprietary gaming services that have been developed by different manufactures and rely on an abundant number of independent and concurrently running proprietary communication protocols and networks. Thus, to provide four network gaming services to a gaming machine, such as player tracking, bonus games, progressive games and cashless ticketing, four separate communication protocols and hardware networks are typically used.
For gaming machine operators and gaming machine manufacturers, a number of disadvantages arise from the lack of standardization. A first disadvantage is that the variations of hardware and protocols from manufacturer to manufacturer add to the complexity of the design and maintenance of a gaming machine network. Currently, there are at least 19 different companies that manufacturer player tracking units that can be mounted in a gaming machine. Each of these companies use different hardware and different communication protocols to implement their player tracking unit.
Other disadvantages include: 1) disruptions to gaming operations when a new gaming service network is added, 2) the cost of installing entirely new network hardware or implementing a new protocol each time a gaming service is added, 3) costs associated with maintaining a complex network involving multiple gaming service networks and protocols supported by different vendors and 4) difficulties associated with moving gaming machines connected to a complex set of multiple gaming service hardware networks (e.g. to reconfigure a casino floor).
In view of the above, it would be desirable to provide a gaming machine network that reduces complexity of gaming machine networks.